Importance of rapid photothermal processing in defect reduction and process integration

Until recently, furnace processing had been one of the most popular methods for the manufacturing of the entire spectrum of semiconductor devices. As a result of shrinking device geometries and increasing wafer size, current trends are in the direction of single wafer processing. There is also a drive towards methods that address the long term requirements for reduced microscopic defects, lower processing temperatures, lower cost of ownership, reduced cycle times, smaller feature sizes and environmentally friendly processing of future generations of integrated circuits. The drive towards such an innovative process has stimulated higher heating and cooling rates along with the compatibility with single wafer technology make rapid thermal processing (RTP) as one of the most promising new thermal processing techniques. Recently introduced minifurnaces as well as RTP systems based on resistive heaters can also provide compatible heating and cooling rates. However, in terms of microscopic defeat reduction, thermal and residual stress reduction, as well as other processing needs, resistive heaters based RTP or minifurnaces do not offer any advantages over conventional furnace processing. Recently, we have shown that ultra violet (UV) and vacuum ultra violet (VUV) light sources when used in conjunction with tungsten halogen lamps based RTP can provide a process with lowest microscopic defects, lowest thermal and residual stress as well as built in green manufacturing feature. Rapid photothermal processing (RPP) also providing a platform for some of the fastest cycle times ever reported. This paper presents new results about the importance of RPP in achieved the desired performance of future semiconductor devices.